Lockheed Martin To Cut 4,000 Jobs Thanks To Austerity

(Reuters) - Defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp

The weapons maker will close operations in Akron, Ohio; Newtown, Pennsylvania; Goodyear, Arizona; and Horizon City, Texas, by mid-2015. The company said four buildings at its Sunnyvale, California, operation will also be shuttered.

The plant closures will eliminate 2,000 positions, Lockheed said, while "operational efficiency initiatives" will pare an additional 2,000 jobs in its information systems and global solutions, mission system and training and space systems business segments by the end of 2014.

U.S. defense companies have shed noncore divisions and cut jobs in recent years as the United States, the world's largest weapons buyer, cut military spending.

Lockheed, the No. 1 supplier to the Pentagon which builds F-35 fighter jets, satellites, missile defense equipment and warships, said the latest cuts reflected continued efforts to bring down costs. Since 2008, the company has pared its workforce by 30,000 employees to 116,000 worldwide.

(Reporting by Karen Jacobs in Atlanta; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Jeffrey Benkoe)